Though my occasional series of film reviews is titled ‘Worth Watching?’, in the case of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, aka the Snyder Cut, the question could easily be changed to ‘Worth making?’ or even ‘Worth releasing?’ For those not familiar with how we reached this point, it’s worth a reminder that the 2017 film Justice League was released with Zack Snyder listed as director, though it was commonly known that Joss Whedon had been brought in to film substantial reshoots and oversee post-production. The film wasn’t well received, with a common complaint being the clash of tones between Snyder’s parts of the film and those shot by Whedon, and a campaign grew and grew online for the ‘true’ version of the film to be released, one which was a pure reflection of Snyder’s vision for the film. An additional $70 million later, and that’s what we have with Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
Or is it? It certainly seems like the version of the film that Snyder wants the world to see, but it is certainly not the version that would have been released in 2017 had Snyder remained on the project through to it’s release. For a start, it is 4 hours long, and there’s not even a 1% chance that Warner Bros would have approved such a long run time. Also, this feels very much a version which benefits from the hindsight of the reaction to the original version of the film.
Of course, those who were calling for the Snyder Cut to be released won’t care about this. All they will care about is whether the film met their expectations, and judging by the response I’ve seen online, the answer generally seems to be that it does. I’m not sure whether it met mine though.
Firstly, the film is too long. Way too long. This film should have been at least 90 minutes shorter, and when you’ve already watched the original version of the film and know pretty much exactly where the plot is going, it drags massively for huge sections of the film. It really does feel like in order to justify the release of this version, every available scene has been included and every scene is included in it’s longest form. As much as anything else, this version serves as a reminder of the value of editing. Removing the fat whilst retaining every essential aspect of the plot is a fine art, and whilst the original version arguably cut too much of the plot, this version retains all of the fat.
Which is a bit of a shame, because a lot of what is put back in really enhances the film. Cyborg in particular really benefits from actually having a character and having a role within the team, whilst a lot of the plot points which felt inexplicable in the original version are now much easier to comprehend. The action is better and the film looks a lot better too, though the score in both versions compares poorly to both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman.
So is it worth watching? That’s a question that can sometimes be a largely redundant question with a big franchise film, and definitely applies here. Those who want to watch almost certainly already have, and if you haven’t made up your mind, the 4 hour run time probably will. There’s enough good here to make a decent film out of it, but even then, would it be different enough to the original version to recommend watching? A question for another day perhaps, because it really feels like the saga of the Snyder Cut still has some twists and turns left.
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